1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally concerned with printing machines of the kind in which an object station adapted to receive an object to be printed moves along a rectilinear print line with a print head overlying this print line at one printing station at least.
It is more particularly, but not exclusively, concerned with the situation in which the print head is a silkscreen print head carrying a silk screen and a squeegee.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A printing machine of this kind is described in published French patent application No 2 689 059 filed 26 Mar. 1992 under application number 92 03636.
The above French patent application discloses only one object station and in practise in the corresponding printing machine, its displacement is under the control of a numerical controller issuing an instruction to stop at the printing station at the correct time, this instruction corresponding to the distance between the printing station and a loading station in which objects to be printed are loaded individually.
In each operating cycle the object printed during the preceding cycle has to be removed.
To the detriment of productivity, this halts the print line for a relatively long time, i.e. the time taken to substitute one object for another.
A general object of the present invention is a system which has the advantage of reducing this stopping time.